EFEaster - Final Day!

AS Economics results

2009-08-25T01:48:00.002+01:00

EIGHT students scored a grade A at AS level.

FIVE of them attended the Easter course!

Of those five, prior to the Easter course, one was predicted a D, one a B - and one had never even had Economics lessons before!

It just shows the value of the course.

Of the top 9 students, 6 were on the course. One went shopping instead, one was growing pineapples and one is, well, bright and scored her highest marks in the subject in which she did least work.

Heart Attack

2009-04-07T22:05:00.000+01:00

Attention: Economics

2009-04-07T17:17:00.000+01:00

Having attended the Easter Course - you had about 34 hours of tuition. That's 5 weeks worth. Given that the concentration was far better than in the normal class you have really had about 7 weeks worth.

That's the same as up to the exam!

Plus...

1. You have two workbooks covering the whole of the syllabus - up to you to work through them!

2. You have all the past papers

3. You have actually DONE most of the past papers

4. The whole syllabus has been covered

5. The textbook has been gone through - thoroughly...

So the only reason you won't get a grade A is that you don't PRACTISE..

It's up to you...

Goodbye!

2009-04-04T08:33:00.000+01:00

And more...

2009-04-04T08:24:00.011+01:00

Then came dinner....

2009-04-04T08:05:00.027+01:00

The Final Evening

2009-04-03T23:37:00.009+01:00

This was all whilst we spent three hours covering 5 mock exams.

Business Studies

2009-04-03T11:25:00.001+01:00

Everyone who does BS and is on the course - please turn up for the final lesson. A special session!

Economics: special session. (Aren't they always?)

Business English - new teacher! (Your fourth this week)

Time to go - it's the morning!

2009-04-03T00:57:00.005+01:00

Finally at 12.30 am we left - another 6 hours of Economics....just time to remind the students of the need for SLEEPT....

So that's it for another 13 hour day Easter Course - just time for a quick 'goodbye!'....

Would someone wake him up? It's time to go!

It's almost midnight!

2009-04-03T00:53:00.006+01:00

And still the Economics students are working away - all ten of them. Here, having worked through the past paper, they're giving presentations as to how to answer the longer questions. Their work is being judged and assessed by their peers - who then explain where the presenters went wrong.

Check the clock - ten minutes to go!

Easter Course (Friday)

2009-04-02T22:18:00.005+01:00

After an impressive discussion concerning deficits and other macro topics we are having a break. This blog has attracted visitors from various parts of the world - I hope they find it interesting reading.

Time: 10.20 pm and still 10 Economics students working away.

And Ken is here too.

Business Studies Friday

2009-04-02T15:56:00.000+01:00

Friday:

Change of teachers:

Business English is Peter

Business Studies is a 'very strict hard working teacher'

I'll be there for the Economics.

Hope all is going well right now...........

Co-teacher for Economics tonight: I hope you're working hard.........

How the grades are calculated

2009-04-02T09:09:00.000+01:00

Ever wondered how final grades are calculated? Take a look below to find out.

How are final grades reached?

Many AS/A Level, VCE, GCSE and GNVQ qualifications are unitary or modular. Each exam paper tests candidates' knowledge of an individual unit in the syllabus.

After they have sat the exam, the script is marked by an examiner, according to a set of strict criteria. The examiner then calculates the raw mark. The difficulty of an exam paper may vary from year to year. In order to ensure fairness and consistency across years and within subjects, an Awarding Meeting takes place. In this meeting a group of experienced senior examiners look at a sample of papers from that year and compares them to previous papers and statistics. They use their professional judgement to decide what the thresholds should be (see example below).

The raw marks for the unit have already been established, but they don't mean very much on their own. They have to be converted to a Uniform Mark Scale (or Score), known as UMS. The weighting of units may vary so UMS unifies the marks to make them compatible and comparable. UMS gives a fixed scale with common boundaries that are unchanged year-on-year.

Sally and Peter both sat an A Level Accounting unit, but in different years. There are six, equally weighted units needed to achieve the qualification. Both papers were marked out of 80 and both students score 61. But, as Sally's exam included more complex questions than Peter's, the grade boundary for achieving an 'a' was set at 61. Peter's exam was relatively straightforward and the 'a' boundary was set at 64. Therefore for this unit, Sally achieved an 'a' and Peter achieved a 'b'. Their marks were converted to UMS (out of a maximum of 100) as shown below.

Peter has therefore got 61 raw marks with the 'a' boundary set at 64. When this is converted into UMS, he has 76 uniform marks. Sally also got 61 raw marks with the 'a' boundary for her unit set at 61. When converted into UMS, she has 80 uniform marks.

The grade of the overall qualification is calculated by adding together the uniform marks achieved in the individual units. This gives candidates a final uniform mark which is compared against the overall UMS grade boundaries.

For unitised qualifications, the unit uniform marks and grades, and the final uniform mark and grade are given on the statement of results.

Evaluation day on the Easter Course!

2009-04-02T08:28:00.002+01:00

Here is the list of the words issued by OCR for the previous syllabus specification.

Directive Word	What it means
AO1
Calculate	Work out using the information provided
Define	Give the exact meaning
Describe	Give a description of
Give (an account of)	As `describe’
Give (an example of)	Give a particular example
How (explain how)	In what way or in what ways
Identify	Point out
Illustrate	Give examples/diagram
Outline	Describe without detail
State	Make clear
Summarise	Give main points, without detail
Which	Give a clear example/state what
AO2 + AO3
Analyse	Set out the main points
Apply	Use in a specific way
Compare	Give similarities and differences
Consider	Give your thoughts about
Explain (why)	Give clear reasons or make clear
Justify/account for	Give reasons for
A04
Assess	Show how important something is
Comment upon	Give your reasoned opinions on
Criticise	Give an opinion, but support it with evidence
Discuss	Give the importance arguments, for and against
Evaluate	Discuss the importance of, making some attempt to weight your opinions
To what extent	Make a judgement

Source:

Friday dinner?

2009-04-02T01:21:00.002+01:00

Your scheduled lessons were 6-9.

In fact they have been 6 - 1.30 am
6-11
6 - 12.30

That's a LOT of Economics.

There will be more intensive action on Thursday.

Shall we all go to dinner on Friday at say, about 8? (You pay for me this time as I have given you so much free time...)

What say you?

Thursday Economics

2009-04-02T01:19:00.001+01:00

Continuing with AD/AS with a special emphasis on EVALUATION questions. Also looking at inflation, growth etc.

Make sure you all turn up...

12.30 am - the lesson still going strong...(Thursday)

2009-04-02T01:06:00.011+01:00

Ut's 12.20 am - near the end of the lesson. Still wide awake though...

In the break time energy is increased by checking on one's loved ones...

10.30pm the second break of the evening...

Mrs Mop (chosen career: cleaner at Oxford University) makes her point forcefully...

Test exam at 9.30pm...

Speedating about market failure!

More discussion about negative externalities...

A happy group picture - males working, females relaxing, old folk smiling at the camera.

Sometimes it is sensible to be very careful where you get your hair cut!

Another group picture...

Change of Plan

2009-04-01T19:54:00.000+01:00

Thursday:

ALL ECONOMICS STUDENTS COME

So, how is it all going?

2009-04-01T15:56:00.000+01:00

No-one commenting on the Easter Course?

You have had three teachers - with another two to come....

No comments?

Are you learning loads?

Do we finish too early? (1.30 am)

Do you get enough homework?

Are you understanding things a bit better?

Do you feel more confident about your exams?

Comment! (Chinese people should ask Winnie if she'll let you...)

Business English on Friday

2009-04-01T12:21:00.001+01:00

Make sure you all turn up for Friday's Business English - the teacher is Peter

Economics Wednesday

2009-04-01T02:54:00.001+01:00

Remember...only these people on Wednesday Economics (7.30):

Economics - Wednesday

Teacher: Chris	Students	Topics
Co-teacher: Chi	Si	a. aggregate demand and aggregate supply and their interaction b. policy objectives c. meaning and measurement: growth/unemployment/balance of payments/inflation d. Market Failure
	Chi
	Mica
	Ken
	Sairan

Stage III Finished

2009-04-01T01:54:00.012+01:00

The Wednesday evening Economics starts at 7.30pm.

Moving onto Stage III soon.

2009-03-31T23:56:00.001+01:00

Covered Economic growth and also went through paper 1 (unit 1) of Jan 2009, line by line. Very important work.

Worked more on market failure.

Shortly to start Unit 2 and exam technique etc etc.

Dima starts his lecture in the morning (i.e. after 12...tonight)

Tuesday Easter Course EF

2009-03-31T20:59:00.001+01:00

Just moving onto stage II - the night is young...

Economics - change

2009-03-31T13:26:00.001+01:00

EVERYONE who was there last night is to attend.

This is very important - make sure you turn up.

Hint: eat a lot and sleep a lot before you come.

Tonight will be difficult for you.....

Video for the Dima Lectures

2009-03-31T02:55:00.000+01:00

Here

EF Easter Course (dirty camera lense!)

2009-03-31T01:27:00.007+01:00

7.30pm.....

10.30 pm...

12.20 am... time to go....

Topics covered in some depth:

Elasticity
Opportunity cost
Efficiency
Market failure
Production possibility curve

Topics skimmed over

Inflation
Unemployment
Balance of Payments
Economic growth
Monetary
Fiscal
Supply-side

Diagrams emphasised:

24 AS/AD ones
Positive/negative externalities
Taxation
Demand/supply

Workbooks given out and started...

Whatever...

2009-03-30T23:48:00.001+01:00

yep - still here

Artelnyi gorshok gusche kipit.

Oh really?

2009-03-30T21:56:00.001+01:00

Yep - we're still here on the Easter Course...

The Dima Lectures

2009-03-30T08:49:00.007+01:00

The Dima Lectures are a series of lectures that will be given as part of the EF Easter Course.

The lectures will take place over three evenings: Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Each lecture will be divided into six parts.

The lectures will be given by Dima. These lectures will be invaluable for those taking Unit 2 Economics (Dima was in the top 61 in the UK for this exam) and also for those sitting Business Studies.

The first lecture will be on Tuesday and will be entitled:

Economic Growth.

Part 1: Introduction to Economic Growth
Part 2: Aggregate demand and aggregate supply and Economic Growth
Part 3: Actual and Potential Economic Growth
Part 3: Causes of Economic Growth
Part 4: Costs and Benefits of Economic Growth
Part 5: A review of policies attempted by the UK Government to cause Economic Growth

The second lecture is on Wednesday and will be entitled:

The Credit Crunch, Recessions and the Economy.

Part 1: Why has the credit crunch pushed the global economy into recession?

Part 2: How has the credit crunch affected unemployment?

Part 3: What is the National Debt?

Part 4: How much should the nation worry about the National Debt?

Part 5: Can the US and the UK avoid a deepening recession?

Part 6: The problems an economy experiences in recovering from a recession.

The third lecture is on Thursday and will be entitled:

The International Economy

Part 1: The advantages that may be gained from international trade

Part 2: Tariff and non-tariff methods of protection

Part 3: How exchange rates are determined by the demand and supply of currencies

Part 4: How changes in the exchange rate may affect the macro-economy

Part 5: The balance of payments (structure, trends, deficit, surplus)

Part 6: The reasons for, and consequences of, possible conflicts between meeting the balance of payments macro objective and other policy objectives

Economics timetable

2009-03-29T19:10:00.001+01:00

Remember that there will be co-teachers some of the time. They are expected to prepare key vocabulary and be prepared to take the class for a short time.

Monday - Economics

Teacher: Chris	Students	Topics
Co-teachers: Dima Si Lex	Si	a. elasticities b. allocative efficiency c. Credit crunch (homework)
	Chi
	Winnie
	Dima
	Mica
	Lex
	Ken
	Sairan

Remember that there will be co-teachers some of the time. They are expected to prepare key vocabulary and be prepared to take the class for a short time.

Economics - Tuesday

Teacher: Chris	Students	Topics
Co-teacher: Lex	Dima	a. market failure and government intervention b. government policy to correct market failure
	Long
	Lex

Remember that there will be co-teachers some of the time. They are expected to prepare key vocabulary and be prepared to take the class for a short time.

Economics - Wednesday

Teacher: Chris	Students	Topics
Co-teacher: Chi	Si	a. aggregate demand and aggregate supply and their interaction b. policy objectives c. meaning and measurement: growth/unemployment/balance of payments/inflation
	Chi
	Mica
	Ken
	Sairan

Remember that there will be co-teachers some of the time. They are expected to prepare key vocabulary and be prepared to take the class for a short time.

Economics - Thursday

Teacher: Chris	Students	Topics
Co-teacher: Long; Lex	Long	a. causes and consequences of : inflation; unemployment; deficit/surplus balance of payments b. costs/benefits and sustainability of economic growth
	Lex
	Winnie
	Dima

Remember that there will be co-teachers some of the time. They are expected to prepare key vocabulary and be prepared to take the class for a short time.

Economics - Friday

Teacher: Chris	Students	Topics
Co-teacher: Dima	Long	a. policies: fiscal/monetary/supply-side b. free trade v protectionism c. conflicts between policy objectives
	Lex
	Winnie
	Dima

Business Studies

2009-03-29T19:08:00.000+01:00

Remember that there will be co-teachers some of the time. They are expected to prepare key vocabulary and be prepared to take the class for a short time.

Business Studies – Monday:

Teacher: Chris	Students	Topics
Co-teacher: Sairan	Si	Enterprise: a. motives for becoming an entrepreneur b. government support for enterprise and entrepreneurs c. sources of business ideas d. strengths/weaknesses of a business idea e. why start-ups can be risky f. why start-ups may fail g. credit crunch (homework)
	Winnie
	James
	Sairan
	Lex

Business Studies – Tuesday

Teacher: Shazmin	Students	Topics
	Si	a. break-even b. analysing the effects of changing variables on break-even charts c. how to forecast cashflow d. the structure of a cashflow forecast e. why businesses forecast cashflow f. income, expenditure and profit budgets g. the process of setting budgets h. problems in setting budgets i. benefits and drawbacks of using budgets j. calculation and interpretation of favourable and adverse variances k. using variance analysis to inform decision-making l. the calculation and understanding of net profit margins m. the calculation and understanding of return on capital n. the distinction between cash and profit
	Mica
	James
	Sairan
	Ken
	Winnie
	Lex

Business Studies - Wednesday

Teacher: Tony	Students	Topics
	Winnie	a. developing business plans b. the purpose and content of business plans c. sources of information and guidance d. methods of primary and secondary market research e. qualitative and quantitative research f. size and types of samples g. factors influencing choice of sampling methods h. raising finance
	James
	Ken
	Sairan
	Si
	Lex

Business Studies - Thursday

Teacher: James	Students	Topics
	Winnie	a. recruitment process b. internal and external recruitment c. selecting the best employees d. how recruitment and selection can improve a workforce e. methods of training f. financial motivation g. improving job design h. working in teams i. theories of motivation
	James
	Ken
	Sairan
	Si
	Lex

Remember that there will be co-teachers some of the time. They are expected to prepare key vocabulary and be prepared to take the class for a short time.

Business Studies - Friday

Teacher: Chris	Students	Topics
Co-teachers: Winnie Lex	Si	a. operational targets b. capacity utilisation c. operational issues d. quality control e. quality assurance f. systems of quality assurance g. quality standards
	Mica
	James
	Sairan
	Ken
	Winnie
	Lex

Business English

2009-03-29T18:50:00.002+01:00

Business English timetable:

Day	Teacher	Students
Monday	Chris	Si Chi Mica Ken Lex James Ethan Sairan
Tuesday	Chris
Wednesday	Tony
Thursday	James
Friday	Chris

Timetable

2009-03-26T01:01:00.008Z

There are THREE sessions a day.

Session 1: 12-3
Session 2: 3-6
Session 3: 6-9

Monday

Session 1:Business English Chris
Session 2:Business Studies Chris
Session 3:Economics Chris

Tuesday

Session 1:Business Studies Shazmin
Session 2:Business English Chris
Session 3:Economics Chris

Wednesday

Session 1:Business English Tony
Session 2:Business Studies Tony
Session 3:Economics Chris

Thursday

Session 1:Business English James
Session 2:Business Studies James
Session 3:Economics Chris

Friday

Session 1:Business English Peter
Session 2:Business Studies Chris
Session 3:Economics Chris

Classtimes/those expected to attend

2009-03-26T00:44:00.006Z

Although all classes are voluntary, entry to the class is at the discretion of the teacher. The following people are expected to attend classes:

Business Studies

Monday:

Si, Winnie, James, Sairan Lex

Tuesday:

Si, Mica, James, Sairan, Ken, Winnie, Lex

Wednesday:

Winnie, Ken, James, Sairan, Si, Lex

Thursday:

Winnie, Ken, James, Sairan, Si, Lex

Friday

Si, Mica, James, Sairan, Ken, Winnie, Lex

Economics

Monday:

Si, Chi, Winnie, Dima, Mica, Lex, Ken, Sairan

Tuesday:

Dima, Long, Lex

Wednesday:

Si, Chi, Mica, Ken, Sairan

Thursday:

Long, Lex, Winnie, Dima

Friday

Long, Lex, Winnie, Dima

Business English

All classes:

Chi

Mica

Ken

Lex

James

Ethan

Sairan

Mary has asked to be withdrawn from the course:

"3/27/2009

at 11:54 AM
I don't know economics and never will. I give up. I have no capability for studying and improving. There is no point."

Conduct during the course

2009-03-26T00:36:00.002Z

Rules/conduct etc.

All classes are voluntary.
If you start a class you must finish it. Thus if you arrive on time for the Economics session you must stay until the end of that session. This is to minimise disruption.
If you arrive late you will not be allowed in the class.
Entrance to the class is always at the discretion of the teacher.

Balance of the class.

If, in the view of the teacher, your behaviour is having a negative effect on the learning of others then you will be removed from the class. A full report will then be emailed to EF and that report will be kept on file.
Only serious, hard-working students are welcome on the course.
The aim is to maximise the potential of all students. An unbalanced class will not do this, so if such an imbalance exists the smaller section will be removed. For example, if there are 7 people in the class. Two are having severe English difficulties and five are coping fine. The two (the minority) will be asked to leave.
If there are problems on this course then the entire course will immediately be cancelled.

Teachers

2009-03-26T00:30:00.001Z

For Business Studies, anyone who:

a. didn't take the exam
b. scored below a D in January 2009

will be asked to co-teach some of the lessons.

Therefore anyone who falls into that category MUST read up on the Business Studies topics.

For Economics, anyone who:

a. didn't take the exam
b. scored below a C in January 2009

will be asked to co-teach some of the lessons.

In addition, anyone who scored below 77/100 on paper 1, will be expected to present some topics.

For Economics: 1 teacher

For Business Studies: 2 teachers

For Business English: 2 teachers (1 to be confirmed)

Economics topics

2009-03-26T00:24:00.003Z

Monday

a. elasticities
b. allocative efficiency
c. Credit crunch (homework)

Tuesday

a. market failure and government intervention
b. government policy to correct market failure

Wednesday

a. aggregate demand and aggregate supply and their interaction
b. policy objectives
c. meaning and measurement: growth/unemployment/balance of payments/inflation

Thursday

a. causes and consequences of : inflation; unemployment; deficit/surplus balance of payments
b. costs/benefits and sustainability of economic growth

Friday

a. policies: fiscal/monetary/supply-side
b. free trade v protectionism
c. conflicts between policy objectives

Business Studies topics

2009-03-26T00:09:00.004Z

Monday:

Enterprise:

a. motives for becoming an entrepreneur
b. government support for enterprise and entrepreneurs
c. sources of business ideas
d. strenghts/weaknesses of a business idea
e. why start-ups can be risky
f. why start-ups may fail
g. credit crunch (homework)

Tuesday

a. break-even
b. analysing the effects of changing variables on break-even charts
c. how to forecast cashflow
d. the structure of a cashflow forecast
e. why businesses forecast cashflow
f. income, expenditure and profit budgets
g. the process of setting budgets
h. problems in setting budgets
i. benefits and drawbacks of using budgets
j. calculation and interpretation of favourable and adverse variances
k. using variance analysis to inform decision-making
l. the calculation and understanding of net profit margins
m. the calculation and understanding of return on capital
n. the distinction between cash and profit

Wednesday

a. developing business plans
b. the purpose and content of business plans
c. sources of information and guidance
d. methods of primary and secondary market research
e. qualitative and quantitative research
f. size and types of samples
g. factors influencing choice of sampling methods
h. raising finance

Thursday

a. recruitment process
b. internal and external recruitment
c. selecting the best employees
d. how recruitment and selection can improve a workforce
e. methods of training
f. financial motivation
g. improving job design
h. working in teams
i. theories of motivation

Friday

a. operational targets
b. capacity utilisation
c. operational issues
d. quality control
e. quality assurance
f. systems of quality assurance
g. quality standards

EF Easter Course - pre-course homework

2009-03-25T23:32:00.002Z

Business Studies

Buy an A4 ringbinder and a set of dividers. This is to be used SOLELY for the Easter Course.

You must supply your own graph paper and file paper/pens etc.

Split the binder into the following sections:

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
Homework IN
Homework RETURNED
Mock exams
Past paper questions
Vocabulary
Articles

Now the actual homework.

Take a copy of the syllabus and hand-write all definitions of key words in the syllabus. Split this into Unit 1 and Unit 2. These must be definitions using your own words.

By Monday - finish off the Workbook

Economics

Split the binder into the following sections:

Key diagrams
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
Homework IN
Homework RETURNED
Mock exams
Past paper questions
Vocabulary
Articles
Make sure you can use the AD/AS diagram for at least 23 different diagrams (eg cost-push, demand pull etc)

Business English

Learn these:

100 essential business English nouns	English idioms
100 essential business English verbs	Marketing vocabulary 1 , Marketing vocabulary 2

EFEaster - Final Day!

AS Economics results

Heart Attack

Attention: Economics

Goodbye!

And more...

Then came dinner....

The Final Evening

Business Studies

Time to go - it's the morning!

It's almost midnight!

Easter Course (Friday)

Business Studies Friday

How the grades are calculated

How are final grades reached?

Evaluation day on the Easter Course!

Directive Word

What it means

AO1

AO2 + AO3

A04

Friday dinner?

Thursday Economics

12.30 am - the lesson still going strong...(Thursday)

Change of Plan

So, how is it all going?

Business English on Friday

Economics Wednesday

Stage III Finished

Moving onto Stage III soon.

Tuesday Easter Course EF

Economics - change

Video for the Dima Lectures

EF Easter Course (dirty camera lense!)

Whatever...

Oh really?

The Dima Lectures

Economics timetable

Business Studies

Business English

Timetable

Classtimes/those expected to attend

Conduct during the course

Teachers

Economics topics

Business Studies topics

EF Easter Course - pre-course homework